In the spirit of Valentine’s Day and the month of love, I wanted to share with you all what the big L-word means to me. I’ve always loved love – even during my single days – and over the years, I’ve learned that we all have different meanings to this word at different stages of our lives. Ultimately, it’s something that we feel and we try our best to express those feelings in words time and time again. I’ve also learned that true love is something so strong that words may not be able to accurately define. However, with that said, I am confident that I’ve learned so much more about the meaning (or the formula) of love ever since I started dating my husband, so I can’t wait to share a little more about that with you all today!

Along with that, TJ and I recently got the opportunity to work with JamesAllen.com, and it was such a neat experience that I’ve been dying to share with you all! This is one of the largest online retailers for diamonds, gemstones and engagement rings. With us being at the age where ALL of our friends are getting engaged and married (and since many of my readers are around this same age as well), I thought it would be helpful for us to try out their Design Your Own Ring experience and share our thoughts!

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and let’s face it ladies … sometimes our men need a little help when it comes to finding us the perfect gift, right? 😉 I’m here to help – send him over here to LNL or just pop the gift ideas below into his head! TJ and I buy Valentine’s gifts for each other every year, and I hardly ever know what to tell him that I want when he asks, so it’s usually just a surprise. However, I’ve had my fair share of times where I will send links to things I like to his inbox or have my mom or sister drop the hint. I mean, don’t lie, we ALL do it y’all!

I wanted to share a few of my favorite online retailers that I’ve been really loving lately. Of course, there are many that I love and shop at all the time, but I’ve recently found a few new front runners and of course, some oldies (but goodies) that I can’t ever let go of. I’m always getting asked where I like to shop and if I like shopping online or in stores better, and my answer to that is definitely online. I enjoy shopping in-store whenever I can find the time to do so, but that is a rare occurrence. So, you can mostly find me behind the computer shopping away! (Plus, you can sometimes find better deals and coupon codes online if you search for them – gotta love a good deal!)

Something was brought to my attention a couple of days ago, regarding my career as an influencer. To keep it short & to the point, this person was talking to someone who I am very close to, mocking my “weird” career choice and doubting that I will ever make it or be successful in this industry … Everyone is completely entitled to their own opinions of course! But sister, I’d like to thank you because you’ve just bursted my tiny spark into a mighty flame.

Styling short dresses in the winter can be extremely difficult because we’ve all grown up being told that you’re ‘not supposed to bare skin’ this time of year. Oh gosh, we’re breaking the rules — but that’s my favorite thing to do when it comes to fashion. I’ve always admired those who bend the style rules just a bit and aren’t afraid to step outside of the box.

I don’t know about y’all, but I love being able to wear my favorite dresses (like this one) year round. I found this Storets biker dress back in October when it was still really warm outside, and now, I love that I’m able to create a totally different look with it throughout the winter months.

Alright, friends – blogging 101 is back in session! I was so pumped to see the positive feedback from my first post in this series and can’t wait to dive into more detail with y’all. Please be sure to let me know if you have any questions at all or if I left off something that you would like for me to include in the future Blogging 101 posts. (You can see what all I plan on covering here.)

By now – after reading Part 1: Finding Your Niche & Knowing Your Audience – you should be clear in the direction that you want to take your blog and know who your target audience will be.

Part 2 is all about the back-end, technical ‘stuff’, which we’ll be talking about today, and trust me, I know it can be super overwhelming. Thankfully my sweet hubby, TJ, offered to come on to LNL as a guest today to help me explain all of this in a clear, easy-to-understand manner.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s so fun to get dressed up in fancy outfits, to look nice for special events or to feel like you’ve just stepped off the NYFW runway onto the streets of your hometown, but let’s be real for a minute. NO ONE – and I mean no one – dresses up like that every single day of their life. We all have days where we just feel like wearing comfortable clothes – while still wanting to look stylish and put together. Whether it be running errands around town, a Saturday morning coffee or brunch date with your significant other, or for me, a full day without meetings – sitting at my desk working / planning content … you can still manage to feel super cozy in a comfortable, yet fashionable streetstyle-appropriate outfit.

A couple weeks ago on my Instagram story, I had a song playing in the background, and I received over 50 messages asking for the title & artist of that song. I figured I would do a poll to see if you all would actually be interested if I shared my current playlist with y’all, and over 95% answered ‘YES’. So, here we are!

Today, I’m sharing my Winter Playlist, which includes lots of chill tunes, (some newbies – lots of oldies) and all around just a huge mix of what I’ve been listening to lately. I tend to listen to many different genres, slow songs & fast songs, sad music & happy music all at one time, so I hope y’all like a good mix! I’m sure you’ll be able to easily identify which artists are my favorites since I’ve included lots of their music. 🙂

Basketball season is in full swing, and my Vols are doing really well so far! The Lady Vols are undefeated with a 14-0 record. They started their SEC schedule last week with a win over Auburn, and they are currently #7 in the nation! The men’s team has gotten off to a good start as well and a win against Kentucky on Rocky Top tomorrow will be huge as they kick off their SEC schedule. I’m pumped!

Not only am I a die hard UT football fan (which you all got to see a lot of this past fall), but I’m also a big Tennessee basketball fan – if you can’t already tell. Fun fact: My sweet Papaw played basketball for the University of Tennessee back when he was in school, so I always love hearing his stories from that time in his life! Another fun story — when I was cheering at UT, I became friends with a lot of the Lady Vol players. They were always so kind, really great students & absolutely hilarious to be around. I remember at every away game that we traveled with the Lady Vols, the coaches and players would always personally thank us for coming to cheer them on. They’re a really great bunch to be around! Unfortunately, I wasn’t cheering at UT when the amazing Pat Summitt was still coaching, but I was fortunate enough to be able to meet her and hear some great lessons from her before she passed away. She is and always will be a true legend at the University of Tennessee!

One of the most common questions I get from you all is “what to wear to a spring/summer/fall/winter wedding” (and especially recently) – a winter wedding. Those are tricky because it can be difficult to find a dress that’s #1: practical & #2: dress code appropriate for the season and the event itself. Not only do you have to take the winter season & cooler temps into consideration, but you also have to be aware of the ‘style of dress’ for the event. This could be casual, cocktail attire, semi-formal, formal, black tie, etc. I chose to feature a dress in this post that could actually cover a few of these different categories (except for casual, of course).

MEET PEYTON

Hi beautiful! I'm Peyton, the founder of love 'n' labels. On this blog, I aim to inspire others through daily outfits, personal stories, beauty and styling tips. LNL is the destination for fashionistas with big-city style (on a real girl's dime), who love to mix both high and low-end pieces. Thank you for stopping by - I hope you'll stay awhile!

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